EPA Proposal May Extend HFC Use in Cold Warehouses
Environmental Groups Warn Move Would Worsen Climate Crisis
Key Takeaways:
- The Environmental Protection Agency on Sept. 30 proposed loosening rules that phase down hydrofluorocarbons used in refrigeration and air conditioning.
- Supporters said the move would ease costs and supply concerns, while environmental groups warned it could worsen climate impacts and extend polluting chemical use.
- The proposal will be published in the Federal Register and face a 45-day public comment period before a final decision.
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The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed loosening a rule phasing down the use of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, highly potent greenhouse gases used inrefrigerators and air conditioners.
The Sept. 30comes in response to concerns “about the lack of availability of refrigerant alternatives during hot summer months and regulations that increase the cost of living for families,”EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement.
The Trump administrationis looking to extend deadlinesto comply with rules to switch to cleaner refrigerants. The EPA proposal applies toeverything from residential air conditioning to retail food refrigeration and semiconductor manufacturing. The agency also wants to allow certain equipment, including cold storage used in warehouses, to use higher amounts of the more polluting chemicals.
In 2020, President Trump signed the law requiring the EPA to regulate the super pollutants, and the Biden administration finalized the regulation now being targeted with this recent proposal.“Control of HFCs has been one of the few areas of bipartisan agreement,” Michael Gerrard, faculty director of Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, said in an email.
David Doniger, senior attorney and strategist for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the proposal would worsen the climate crisis by not only allowing HFC use for longer, but in larger amounts for some equipment.“They are also proposing to weaken the rules even after the delay,” he said.
The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) expressed support for the existing 2023 rules. It said inthat delaying some of the rule transition dates, as the EPA is proposing, “would disrupt multiyear planning and investment by U.S. manufacturers” at a time when “companies have already retooled production, certified new equipment, and built supply chains around the current schedule.”
The Food Industry Association, meanwhile,. “We thank EPA for recognizing the need to find a way to achieve the agency’s goals while not overburdening the economy,” president and CEO Leslie Sarasin said in a statement.
This proposal will soon bepublished in the Federal Register, after whichthere will be a 45-day public comment period.
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